Black Iron’s Glory

The 247th chapter of Landes Castle

It took more than half a month for Captain Scree to arrive at the Earl of Clarence with the staff and supplies of the Fourth Brigade and the Department of Logistics.

Claude told him the status quo of the area: "There are a total of fourteen aristocratic territories. This is the largest count of the Earl of Loyke de Ba. Calhous. The rest are the three Viscounts. The territory and the nine baron territories. But in addition to the six lords who were caught by us, the other lords are said to have fled to the Beibu Gulf, the family of the four lords. Also followed them to escape...

At present, the second brigade is stationed in the Viscount Castle of Victor, which is more than ten miles away from the left. The third brigade is stationed at the Castle of Kraft in the right 20 miles away. During this time, we conducted a detailed search in this area. The gathered people were nearly a thousand people, but most of them were old and weak. There were less than one hundred young men and women. Now they are arranged to live next to the castle. In the village. In addition to picking wild vegetables for fishing, we also need to provide miscellaneous grains for their livelihood.

I originally wanted to arrange for them to grow and plant, but lacked grain and tools. Those who left these territories took all the things they could use..."

Captain Scree nodded. "I received your homing pigeon communication. I have already mobilized a batch of grain and rapeseed in the squirrel village. There are also some farm tools coming over. Then I can arrange people to plant it. But there are ten in this area. How can the four lords leave such a person?"

Claude picked up a stack of dilapidated documents from the table: "These are the territorial documents we searched for in the castles and houses of the Territory, most of which are about the census of these noble territories five or six years ago. I counted that there were a total of 50,000 or so people in this area, of which more than 20,000 were young men and women. But after the war broke out, the Cannes Principality had been forced in this lord territory for more than three years. Three times, three thousand men were recruited into the army.

The remaining males are said to have been led by these lords to go to the southern three counties to rob. The old man who stayed here said that these lords had intended to go to the southern three counties to plunder some of the youthful vacancies to fill the territory, but they were in the squirrel village. After the defeat, the lords fled back and packed up their belongings and fled to the Beibu Gulf with their families, giving up the territory. Without the lord, the rest of the people will not be able to land, and they will leave with the move..."

Captain Scree relieved: "Also, there are no men, and the rest of the territory is old and weak. These lords know that they can't resist our soldiers. If they don't go, they will die. Right, I put the other side. More than four hundred prisoners have come over and can arrange for them to work."

Crowder shrugged: "These things are responsible for you. I am going to take a large team to the Landes Castle in front of the six miles. It is a baron territory. The castle is a river bay. The terrain is more dangerous. So we swim. The four battalions of the Bingyi battalion are stationed in this area in a diamond shape. Even if they find the enemy, they can support each other. The battalion is stationed here. This Clarence Castle is the largest and most sturdy castle in the area. If the enemy comes to attack, you can completely retreat everyone to the castle to defend."

Captain Scrim’s face changed: “Do you think the enemy will come?”

"It's hard to say," Crowder shook his head. "Those who have given up their territories to the North Bay, but I suspect they will not be willing to be occupied by the land. If they let themselves organize the army to recover this area, they will May not dare, but those lords can completely push the responsibility of losing the land to the head of Canas, thinking that it is too much for the conscription and that the territory has no garrison power, they will let the army of the Cannes Principality help them recover. This area.

I said this is not a guess, because the soldiers had heard the hooves in the evening when they had just occupied the area. In the morning, I found that there was a hoof print on the road all the way to the north. We sent soldiers to track, but unfortunately there was no gain. I think this is probably the man who ambushes the area in the area. Their role is to confirm that we occupied this area, and then we will return to the territories of the territories.

For a territorial aristocracy, the territory is a guarantee for the continuation of their family. I have been thinking about why the territories of the territories have given up this area so easily and abandoned the territory of their family. Now I think that the territorial nobles who traveled to the Beibu Gulf did not really give up the territory. The reason they did this was to get rid of the useless old and weak people.

Quite simply, the people are the vassals of the lords. They are the wealth creators of the lords, both family and individual, and are their own lords. In a certain way, the lord is also responsible for his own people, to ensure that their family can eat and eat, so that they can work for themselves. From this point of view, the young and strong in the people are the most valued by the lord.

Now most of the young and powerful people of the lords in this area have been forced to recruit soldiers by the Principality. The remaining Qingzhuang followed them to plunder the three southern counties. As a result, they were completely annihilated in the squirrel village. . If these lords do not leave the territory, then he is responsible for the families of the dying people in his territory, and he needs to spend a large sum of money to feed the old and weak people who are not able to do things. So when they left, they said that they gave up their territories, but they gave up their old and weak people.

Without the lord, the people who stayed here lost their dependence. They did not have the seeds to work, and they did not receive the food that the lord had sent down to live. So if you can go, you will leave the old and weak who have nowhere to go. And those lords can completely excuse them to lose the green and can't resist our offense, and ask Cannas to send troops to reclaim their territory. After the end of the war, they can use the excuses of the war in the territory to obtain compensation from the Principality, and then re-recruit the youth to their territory as the people...

I have to say that there is still evidence that although the lords have left their own territory, they still have more or less left a few older servants to manage and maintain their castles and houses. The excuses are the same, ready Selling their real estate in the territory. But we all know that during the war, no big businessmen would buy their unguaranteed property, especially their territory is facing our offensive. So I think this is an excuse, and those aristocrats in the territories are still dreaming of a comeback.

In addition, like the documents we searched on the table, most of the previous tax-collection demographic materials deal with these outdated and useless materials, and there is nothing in the territory to prove the title deed. This shows that the lords took away the useful documents of the territory, which is not like giving up the territory. This also proves that their excuse to sell real estate is purely deceptive, otherwise it will not leave those real estate documents. ”

Captain Scri's face is a bit harsh: "Your vision is very reasonable. We really have to be prepared. But I will pass on the report of the frontline commander after you discover the report that the territorial aristocrats in this area have abandoned the territory and fled to the front line command. We are stationed in this area and are conducting reconnaissance in the center of the grassland to find out whether the Cannes Principality has a move to mobilize troops. Since you are carrying a large team in the front of the territory, this task will be handed over to you."

From the map, Claude decided to go to the territory of the Baron of the Landes, which is the edge of the area and the prairie. It is most convenient to send troops to reconnaissance. This reconnaissance mission is very suitable for a large team of Claude. It is not necessary for Captain Skerley to confess to Claude himself and send scouts into the prairie.

"There are still things," Claude said. "We are here alone. We hope that the logistics supplies can be prepared more. The lords and the people in this area have escaped. The place is big but there is no us. The materials collected must be transported to us by the rear. In addition, the second and third teams are stationed in the Viscounts of Victor and the Castle of Kraft, and I asked them to search the two castles for secret rooms or dark rooms. These are the places to be aware of when defending. You have to urge them, don't care, I found two secret passages and a dark room in the castle of Earl of Clarence..."

"I know, I will urge the second and third teams to search their castles. As for the supplies, I will let the rear transport as soon as we need them. You can rest assured." Captain Scribe nodded. Road.

After a night at the Earl of Clarence Castle, Claude said goodbye to Captain Scriley, with the infantry squadron of Lord Sturt and the officer of the Rocky Dicks, the artillery squadron to the Baron of Landes, six miles away. . Although the straight-line distance is only about six miles, Claude and others still go for a long time, because there is a big river bay on the side of Landes Castle, Claude and others have to bypass this river bay, and then walk more than three miles. A simple boardwalk, you have to cross the river there.

The Landes Castle is situated on the mound of the Great River Bay, which is much smaller than the Clarence Castle that the Earl led, and the city walls are also stone-wood structures. The lower part is a rock structure and the upper part is made of logs. The castle of Earl of Claurus is all made of stone. From the perspective of defense performance, the wall of the castle of Earl of Clarence is more than two meters higher than the four-meter wall of Landes Castle.

However, Landes Castle is in a difficult position. It is located on a small mound, next to a large river bay. The original lord Baron Landers made a deep trench of seven or eight meters wide around the small mound. The moat, connected to the Great River Bay, is like a silvery river separating the small mounds from the prairie. Grassland herders are often not water-based, and the seven or eight-meter-wide rivers have become difficult to overcome.

When Claude and others arrived at Landes Castle, they found that the banks of the small mounds to the Xiaohegou were all white flocks. The left-backed Diavid stood with a small team of soldiers standing on the other side of the river and laying down a four-meter long wooden suspension bridge to welcome Claude.

"Where are these sheep coming?" Crowder asked.

"It's all Mark and Merd. They both took people on the prairie. They have already captured 20 herdsmen. There are more than a thousand sheep here." Diavid answered.

Claude stood up: "Is there any young people in the herdsmen's family?"

"This is not the case. Older herdsmen over the age of forty-five, young children under the age of twelve, and all others are women." Diavid thought about it.

"Tomorrow, you will take the herdsmen and flocks to the castle of Earl of Claurus and hand them over to Captain Scree, let him deal with it. This is the front line, and the herders cannot be left here," Claude said.

"This is the sir. Are these sheep handed over to the battalion?" Diavid had some disappointment. The two countries fought, these herders are the people of the Cannes Principality, and their flocks are all looting enemies for the soldiers, which is one of the ways to go abroad.

"Leave one or two hundred here to let everyone taste the fresh, the rest are brought in. You still want to sell these sheep, who will come over to buy these sheep at this time, you can not bring them out to graze themselves. Ministry, you can also get a second or third class meritorious service by collecting materials. There is a lack of fresh meat...."

"Well, boss, I listen to you," Diavid said.

Claude continued to go to the castle on the small mound: "There was no search in the castle. Did you find any secret passages?"

"No, boss, there is one in the secret room. I suspect that it was a warehouse. It is empty now. As for the dark road, I don’t think there is a dark road here. After all, there is a big river next to it. If you dig a dark passage to the outside, It will definitely leak or even be flooded. If you don't want to leak water, it will cost a lot of money. You can see that the castle of Baron Landers is so simple. He certainly can't afford to build a dark passage that leads to the outside. Diavid said plausibly.

This is quite reasonable. Claude nodded. "Is there any difficulty in stationing here?"

"Yes, boss, we don't have enough fuel." Diavid said quickly: "I have asked the soldiers to cut down all the shrubs and trees within a radius of four or five miles before they piled up the firewood in the small half of the house. I estimate that our brigade was stationed here for less than half a month without cooking fire and boiled water. The herders used fuel for horse manure and cow dung, but we don’t have many horses and cows..."

This is indeed a big problem. Claude thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow, you will **** the herdsmen and the flocks, and let Captain Scree send a team of captives to the mountains to cut wood and burn charcoal. At least we have to hoard fuel for half a year here. Right. , Merd and Markie when they come back."

Diavid caught his head: "I guess they will come back tomorrow, and now they are searching for more and more time and spending more and more time. These ten days are coming out in two or three days, Mark Odd is the team that took the meal after lunch at noon the day before yesterday. Murd left yesterday morning."

"Well, there is no need to let them go out after this return. After the reconnaissance, all the war horses will be used. The infantry will stay here to strengthen the defense facilities."

"Boss, is there no need to build any defense facilities? I think this castle is very good." Diavid said.

"No, if the enemy came, we all hid in the castle, and it became the shackles. If the enemy brought a heavy siege gun, then I suspected that this castle could not be smashed. When I wanted to escape, there was no place to escape. Go. The Baron Landers built this castle to guard against other aristocrats. This kind of castle is a symbol of insurmountable conflict in the armed conflict between the territories and the aristocracy. But in the face of the regular army, it can’t resist much. time."

"Well, boss, you have the final say." Diavid said.